Numerous collapsible intermediate bulk containers have been developed for shipping liquid and free flowing material which are constructed of cardboard or fiber board. Many of these containers are adapted to utilize a disposable liner which is an inner plastic bag that contains the shipped material while the bag is confined within the container, the bags are generally disposed after use. The prior art containers frequently utilize a standard pallet or a built in pallet, and are collapsible, so that after the shipment has been received and the contents emptied from the disposable liner, the container is disassembled and secured for shipment back to the supplier or recylced. The usual practice is to utilize an inner disposable plastic liner or plastic liner in a cassette, which has an inlet port and an outlet port. After the collapsible shipping container has been assembled, the user is required to bend over the opening of the container and insert the plastic liner outlet port through the outlet opening of the container, this task is difficult if not impossible for some persons. Another problem encountered with collapsible containers is that the folded size of the container is sometimes larger than the size of the pallet, making shipping the folded container cumbersome. Assembling a collapsible container may be difficult for many person, since many of the existing collapsible containers include many loose pieces that are not interconnected or include interconnected pieces which require numerous sequential folds in order to properly assemble the container. The present invention overcomes many of these and other problems by providing a substantially square or rectangle collapsible bulk shipping container for either shipping and storing liquids or free flowing materials, wherein the walls of the container are interconnected and constructed of one continuous multilayer cardboard or fiber board structure, forming a wall structure. Score marks for folding the wall structure flat, similar to an accordion, are provided at each wall side edge and on two opposing walls vertically about midway between both side wall edges, the wall structure is hingedly attached to a bottom base member along a bottom edge of one wall and which is securely attached to a standard wooden pallet. The pallet includes a raised outer lip around its perimeter which retains the lower section of the assembled container walls and which includes a bottom discharge cutout for discharging the contained material from a plastic insert contained within the container. The folded wall structure fits within and is retained within the raised lip of the pallet with a container cap for easy shipping. The folded wall structure is easily assemble by first lifting the folded wall structure from a wall top edge and opposite the hingedly secured bottom edge and pulling the accordion folded wall structure until the walls form upright outer walls for the container. An inner plastic liner is provided in place with an outlet port extending through a wall outlet opening and with its inlet port attached to a filler neck tab which is attached to an upper edge of one wall. Once the inner plastic liner is filled, a container cap is placed over the container and straps extending around the filled container and the top cap restrain the container to the pallet and further added structural integrity to the container system.
The prior art collapsible containers include U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,549 to Perkins, which describes and claims a container with a flexible liner, a plurality of vertical rigid support walls, and a flexible skin interconnecting the rigid walls. This container system is useful for its stated purposes but it does not provide an easily assembled collapsible container as the present invention, nor will a folded version of the 549 patent fit easily on a standard sized pallet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,562 to Perkins describes and claims a container with an insertable inner liner and with knock out portions near a bottom providing discharge methods and apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,982 to Perkins et al, describes and claims a fluent container with discharge secured to the bottom of the container, wherein the container maybe folded flat for storage or shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,186 to Baker describes and claims a foldable tubular shell shipping container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,072 to Lorenz describes and claims foldable corrugated containers with at least one foldable flap attached at the fold line rather than crushing or scoring the corrugated material to form the fold line.
The prior art patents do not provide a collapsible shipping container that is permanently attached to a standard size pallet, may be constructed to form a substantially square or rectangular shipping container, includes a wall structure that forms numerous walls from continuous material and is scored, crushed or includes foldable flaps that allow the wall structure to be folded flat and easily fit on a standard size pallet, includes an inner plastic liner for containing material therein within the folded wall structure with an outlet port extending through an opening of the wall structure and an inlet port attached to a filler neck tab positioned on a top edge of one wall for easily filling the container, and wherein the container is easily assembled by lifting the folded container upwardly and extending the folded wall sections forming the square or rectangular wall container, and wherein the assembled container is retained on a regular size pallet with a raised perimeter lip and where a container cap with numerous straps further secures the filled container to the pallet.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible bulk shipping container suitable for shipping liquid and other fluent suitable for use with a standard industry pallet and which includes a bottom discharge port, an top inlet port and an inner liner contained and supplied therewith.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a collapsible bulk shipping container that includes a wall structure constructed of continuous cardboard or fiber board whereby wall members are formed by vertically aligned score lines, crush lines or foldable flaps, and where the wall structure folds to a substantially flat horizontal position on a top surface of a standard size pallet.
It is a still a further object of the present invention to provide a collapsible bulk shipping container that includes a collapsible wall structure which forms four wall members of a substantially square or rectangular shipping container, the wall members are foldable along vertically orientated lines which allow the wall structure to be folded accordion style for storage and assembly, the container has an open top wherein and inner plastic liner is inserted with an outlet port extending through a wall member and an inlet port captured by a inlet opening flap attached to a top edge of a wall member, while a perimeter lip is provided around a bottom perimeter portion of the assembled wall structure to secure the container to the pallet and a skirted top cap fitted over the assembled and filled container and secured in place by multiple straps which extend around the top cap and pallet.
The invention provides an easy to fill collapsible container which is discarded or recycled when empty. The collapsible container is also easier to assemble than existing collapsible containers since the heavy wall panels are hingedly pivoted to an upright position and the base panel is securely attached to the top surface of the pallet. The present invention also folds to a size no larger than a standard size pallet and is accordingly easier to store and ship.